Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Increases Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,787 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,689 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.8% of Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its stake in shares of Apple by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,587,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AAPL. DZ Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. Phillip Securities cut Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Argus set a $325.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.22.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $271.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $259.49 and a 200-day moving average of $229.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $277.32.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.92%.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.